Strike mount for refrigerator cabinet



July 21, 1959 J. B. HORVAY STRIKE MOUNT FOR REFRIGERATOR CABINET FiledAug. 27, 1958 FIG?) INVENTOR.

J'ULU is B. HORVAY FIGZ H l5 ATTORNEY Julius B. Horvay, Louisville, Ky.,assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New YorkApplication August 27, 1958, Serial No. 757,617

2 Claims. (Cl. 312-214) The present invention relates to a strike mountfor a refrigerator cabinet latch and is more particularly concerned witha low heat conductivity strike mount adapted to be positioned betweenthe inner and outer walls of the refrigerator cabinet.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a strong, lowcost strike mount for mounting a strike between the inner and outerwalls of a refrigerator cabinet in such a manner that heat transferbetween the walls through the strike mount its held at a minimum.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent as the following description proceeds and the features ofnovelty which characterize the invention will be pointed out withparticularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of thisspecification.

In carrying out the objects of the present invention, there is provideda strike mount which is composed of metal for strength and low cost andwhich is designed for mounting a strike on a refrigerator cabinet havingan access opening at the front thereof and comprising spaced inner andouter walls, the outer wall including a reinforcing channel sectionhaving front and rear flanges extending towards the inner wall adjacentthe access opening. The strike mount of the present invention is in onepiece and includes a body portion disposed between the inner and outerwalls of the cabinet for supporting a strike. A first leg on one side ofthe body portion is secured to the inner wall by means of screws or thelike. Additional legs in contact wtih but not secured to the rearsurface of the front flange and the front surface of the rear flangetake up the loads on the strike mount during opening and closing of therefrigerator cabinet door. As these points of contact between the strikemount and the outer walls of the refrigerator cabinet can be kept to aminimum because these legs are not secured to their respective flanges,the heat leakage through the metal strike support and the cost ofproviding such a support are low.

For a better understanding of the invention reference may be had to theaccompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a refrigerator cabinet incorporating thestrike mount of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view, partially in section, of a portion of thecabinet of Fig. 1 illustrating the strike mount of the presentinvention; and

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

In Fig. 1 of the drawing there is shown a refrigerator including acabinet 1 and a door 2 hinged on the front of the cabinet for closingthe access opening thereto. The cabinet itself comprises spaced outerand inner walls 3 and 4, the space between these two walls generallybeing filled by a body of heat insulation (not shown).

For the purpose of strengthening the outer wall or shell in thene1ghborhood of access opening there is provided a strengthening channelsection formed by bending the material of the outer wall back uponitself and then inwardly to form a channel 5 including a front flange 6and nited States. Patent a rear flange 7 which are spaced from oneanother and extend inwardly towards the inner wall 4. The inner wall 4also has a strengthening flange 8 on the edge thereof adjacent theaccess opening and this flange extends generally outwardly towards theouter wall 3. A breaker strip 10 composed of heat insulating materialsbridges the space between the outer and inner walls or more specificallybetween the inner edge 11 of the flange 6 and the portion of the liner 4adjacent the flange 8.

For the purpose of holding the door in a closed position relative to theaccess opening to the cabinet, there is provided a latch and strikeassembly including a latch 14 secured to the door and a strike 15mounted on the cabinet between the inner and outer walls 3 and 4. Thelatch 14 which does not form part of the present invention preferablycomprises a toggle member 16 adapted to engage the roller 18 formingpart of the strike 15 for holding the door in a closed position.

In the usual refrigerator construction, the inner and outer walls 3 and4 of the cabinet are composed of sheet metal or the like and it is, ofcourse, highly desirable to keep to a minimum any heat leakage betweenthe relatively Warm exterior wall 3 and the relatively cold inner wallor liner 4. Where no significant loading is involved, heat insulatingmaterial such as a plastic material can be employed. For example, theplastic breaker strip 16 for sealing the space between these wallssolves the heat leakage problem as to this bridging member. However,where the part such as the strike mount is subjected to heavy or sharpimp-acts, metal must be used to provide the required strength eventhough the metal mount results in a bridging of the inner and outerwalls by a high heat conductivity material thus causes significant heatleakage between these two walls adjacent the latch.

In accordance with the present invention, this heat leakage has beensubstantially reduced by an arrangement in which the metal strike mountis secured only to one of these Walls for the purpose of holding thestrike in the desired vertical position and which is so constructed thatit is merely in contact with, rather than fixedly secured to, the outerwall. As the points of contact between the srike mount and the outerwall can be held to a minimum, a material decrease in heat transfer fromthe inner wall to the outer wall of the cabinet can be obtained.

With reference to Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawing, the novel strike mount21 of the present invention comprises a single piece metal memberincluding a body portion 22 disposed between the outer and inner walls 3and 4 and having at one end thereof a flange or leg 23 secured to theflange 8 of the inner wall 4 by means of screws 24. In order to keep theheat leakage through the metal strike mount 21 to a minimum, the mountis not fixedly secured to the outer wall 3 but rather there are provideda leg 26 having an end portion 27 on contact with the inner surface ofthe front flange 6 and one or more legs 29 in contact with but notsecured to the front face of the rear flange 7.

By this arrangement it will be seen that while the screws 24 whichfasten the mount 21 to the inner wall 4 maintain the mount and thestrike 15 in operative position relative to the latch 14, the legs 26and 29 have no supporting function but merely take up any forward orrearward load on the strike during opening or closing of the door 2.Therefore, the legs 26 and 29 can be rather loosely positioned betweenthe flanges 6 and 7 and the overlap or contact between the legs 26 and29 and the flanges 6 and 7 can be held to a minimum in order to limitthe heat conduction between the outer Wall 3 and the strike mount 21 andhence the inner wall 4. In other words the floating legs 26 and 29 canbe in contact with ator,

' therespectiveflanges 6 and 7 only to the extent-necessary to absorbthe load on the strike during opening and closing of the door and sincethey are not rigidly or fixedly secured to the outer wall 3 thesecontacting areas can be held to the minimum for minimum heat transfer.

While there has beenshown a particular embodiment of the presentinvention'in connection with the refrigerit is to be understood that theinvention is not limited to the particular construction. shown anddescribed and it is intended by the appended claims to cover allmodifications withintthe spiritand scope of the invention.

What I claim as new and ,desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States is:

1. A metal strike mount-.formounting a strike-on a cabinet having anaccess, opening at 'the ifrontthereof and comprising spaced innera'ndouter walls, one of said walls including a channel sectionhavingfrontand rear flanges extending towards the otherof said walls adjacentsaid access opening. said strikemount including a body portion disposedbetween said walls for supporting a strike, a first leg on one side.ofsaid body po'rtionand secured to said other wall, a second leg incontact with but 'not secured-to the rear surface of said front flangeand a third leg in contact with but not secured to the I front surfaceof said rear flange.

body portion disposed between said walls for supporting a strike, afirst legon one side of said body portion and fixedly secured to saidother wall, a second leg in contact with but not secured to the rearsurface of said front flange and-additional legs in contact with but notsecured to the frontsurf ace of said rear flange.

References Cited in the file of this patent V UNITED SIA'I ES PATENTS2,249,644 Anderson July 15, 1941 2,679,423 Anderson et al. May 25, 19542,736,596 Burke Feb. 28, 1956 2,849,250 Williamson Aug. 26, 1958

